September 30, 2024.
The sun was shining brightly.
The bus Chloe was traveling on came to a stop with a sharp brake sound.
Chloe jumped out of the bus. Wasting no time, she waved at Bill, her friend who was waiting for her. Bill leaned against a lamppost, his eyes glued to his cell phone screen.
"Hey!" Chloe exclaimed, approaching with quick steps.
Bill looked up, giving Chloe a quick glance with a lazy-looking gaze.
He let out a long, heavy breath, as if to make clear the frustration he had been harboring.
"It's taking so long. What happened?" asked Bill, even though he already knew that traffic was the cause of Chloe's delay.
Chloe chuckled awkwardly, her hands waving in the air as if she wanted to push the topic away.
"Sorry, there was a lot of traffic earlier!" she replied with a face full of guilt.
Bill turned off his phone screen, putting it in his pocket. "Come on, Henri's been waiting all this time," he said without changing his flat expression.
Chloe smiled embarrassedly. "Sorry, seriously the car was really busy," she said, although in her heart she felt a little unnecessary apologizing that much. The conversation ended there, with Chloe's blank stare trying to hide her irritation.
Bill just shook his head, an inaudible mumble escaping his lips, but inwardly, he laughed. Like a kid...
After walking a few meters, the figure of Henri, who was wearing a hoodie despite the heat of the day, could be seen gazing at the busy highway. His gaze was blank, focusing on the passing cars.
As Chloe and Bill got closer, Henri turned his head, as if just realizing their presence. He nodded without a word.
"Sorry for the wait," Chloe said first, trying to break the ice with a forced smile.
Henri just shook his head softly, his hands tucked into his hoodie pockets. "It's okay," he replied simply. His gaze shifted to Bill, looking for more information. "Has the lecturer reached class yet?" asked Henri.
Bill shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "Probably already, check the group," he replied, then glanced at Chloe who looked tired.
Henri took out his cell phone, checked his messages, and closed it again.
"Not yet," he muttered briefly.
Chloe instantly breathed a sigh of relief, her smile wide. "Thank goodness," she breathed out, her eyes looking at her two friends in turn. "Uh, did you guys finish your assignments?"
Chloe's question drew a silence.
Henri was silent, while Bill lifted his head slightly with a relaxed tone, "There, it's easy."
Chloe looked at Henri with slight concern. "How about Henri?"
Henri shakes his head. "No, not yet."
"Ah! Just like me," Chloe smiled broadly, as if relieved to not be alone in this lag.
Bill furrowed his brow, his face looking unimpressed. "It's not my fault that you got bad grades."
Chloe grimaced, but she knew Bill was just joking—might be a little serious. "Never mind, our professors don't really care about assignments either. Isn't that true?"
Henri nodded slowly, without changing his expression.
Bill shook his head softly. They are both equally crazy...
Henri just shrugged his shoulders.
Chloe suddenly interrupted, her tone excited, "Uh, I have something for you two!"
Bill and Henri both stared at Chloe with raised eyebrows, confusion showing on their faces. Chloe reached into her pocket, pulling out three small rings that looked simple but glistened in the sunlight.
"You guys have to wear this with me!" Chloe ordered in a tone that was more like a child giving orders to her playmates.
Henri took the ring without another word, while Bill twirled the ring on his finger, as if trying to understand what this meant.
"Really, Chloe? You're such a little kid," Bill said with a sigh.
"Say what you want, but on the count of three, we have to use it together! Understood?" Chloe began the countdown with enthusiasm.
Henri, with a flat tone, followed, "One."
Bill exhaled again, his eyes half-closed, "Two."
"THREE!" they yelled in unison, though without the same energy as Chloe.
As soon as the rings were on their fingers, something strange happened.
The originally bright sunlight was suddenly extinguished in an instant. A chill settled over them, and the three of them now stood in a dimly lit room. The wooden floor creaked under their feet, while the walls were cracked and rotten.
The world around them changed in an instant, and before they knew it, they were no longer on the city's side streets!
They were in a small room with a low ceiling that was about to collapse, and there was only a little light coming in from the small window in the corner of the room.
"Where is this?" asked Bill, his voice trembling with shock.
Chloe looked around, a sense of dread slowly creeping over her skin. "We're... where are we?"
Henri didn't reply immediately, but his face tightened. He approached the window, looked out, and found a completely different world from the one they had left.
The sky was a dark red, like the sun had set forever. Outside, creatures shuffled about, resembling humans yet without life in their eyes.
"What is this...?" muttered Chloe, her eyes widening at the scene outside.
Bill approached Henri, joined him in looking out of the window, then took a few steps back.
The three of them froze in place.
Welcome,
to the Abyss.
...
Charles left the room, went to the first floor, and then went outside the inn. He did not greet the owner of the room because it looked creepy, nor did he ask Furina to go with him.
He looked up, staring at the sky that was still red, then looked at his surroundings—many of the residents, who seemed to be lifeless, walked with a zombie step.
Charles furrowed his eyebrows, then exhaled. He began walking while looking around—perhaps find what he's looking for—He would ask a blacksmith if he could make a bullet, even though he was sure that the answer was no.
However, he would still look for it because it was better to find out than to stay in his room. After all, walking has become second nature to her every morning-jogging, jogging, and jogging.
Training the body makes it fresh!
As he watched the residents, who were like zombies, walking as if they were organized somewhere. Charles suddenly stopped walking, he heard the sound of metal being struck.
With a curious face, he approached the direction of the sound.
A blacksmith...
Charles saw the iron, reddened by heat, being struck with a hammer.
He looked up to see his face—a man in his 60s, with a white beard and hair. He had blue eyes, which shone brightly like the sea under the reflection of the sun.
"Excuse me sir," greeted Charles, stopping the old man from his work.
Under the dim firelight, the man looked up at him, who was about to ask a quick question, who widened his eyes, and who was rendered instantly silent.
"Sorry for interrupting your work, sir.
"Can you make a bullet?" Charles handed over Melania's revolver.
The man remained silently staring at him as he took the revolver. He examined it for a moment and then handed it back to Charles.
He still didn't say anything.
Instead, he continued to strike the iron without paying any attention to Charles, who was silent as he received the revolver without a reply, not quickly leaving his sight.
Charles wanted to ask why?
Why can't he make a bullet? Because of a lack of materials? Because of unskillfulness?
However, he believed that even if he asked, the answer that came out of the man's mouth would only be a breath. After all, they were all "corpses" who seemed to be unsettled by life, so they were in prison in this world—are not allowed to die, are not allowed to live.
Just like a soul trapped in a cage.
Perhaps this is the true Abyss.
Charles let out a long sigh, disappointed that he didn't get the bullet he wanted.
Just as he was about to turn around, his shoulders were suddenly caught by something!
The surface was cold at first, but within a few seconds it slowly heated up. Something, finger-like groped limply at every touch on his shoulder.
Charles, who had just sighed immediately held his breath with his body shivering.
Does this guy suddenly want to eat me?
As he slowly turned around, the man handed over a piece of paper. The surface of the paper was dirty, never properly cared for, stepped on 5 or 6 times with feet used to the arid ground at least.
Charles took the paper out of her hand hesitantly. He watched the man's face for one minute. After realizing that there was no change in his expression, the paper was immediately checked.
Reading it under the dim light, Charles furrowed his brows and then looked back at the man.
You asked me for a favor to look for materials? After you rejected my request?
How shameless!
Charles sighed for a moment before putting the paper into his pocket. Talking to a zombie wouldn't yield any information. Silence is, of course, a flexible answer that can mean anything.
However, for him, this one was like receiving a quest in the game. It just needed to be completed.
Accepting quests is fine, the other way around is also fine.
Besides, taking multiple requests might cause anomalies, which could be the way out of this place. They're also just NPCs that won't cause any disasters, so it should be safe if I accept the request of one of them.
Charles returned to the inn, about to lie on his disgusting-looking bed. However, his attention was suddenly distracted.
He widened his eyes to feel the light emitted from above was not red but purple.
Under the hollow ceiling, he slowly turned around with trembling pupils.
He looked up at the sky, whose sun he was.
It has already set.
...
A/N: If you want to read the 7 advanced chapters with a faster update frequency than the webnovel, you can read it on my patreon whose link is below:
https://www.pâtreon.com/Junxt
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...
Hi, we meet again, mate... I rise from the grave to continue this story xD